Higher Stakes
by lunique
Summary: A oneshot based on the VA movie stills released of Romitri training together, post the blood whore rumors and before the lust charm. It's a combination of stake training, Romitri moments and Dimitri's second lesson. Rated T for language because it's Rose Hathaway!


**A/N: So here's a little oneshot I've written, as inspired by the Romitri training movie stills that have been released of Romitri using stakes in the grassy area near the school, but semi private because of trees. I've added scenes together here, a small possibility of how Dan Waters may have put together some scenes in the movie (if you know something about the movie or have seen it already, please NO SPOILERS) **

**I've written this in Rose's POV but it's a little different to how I wrote in "Rose's Bloodlines." Please review and tell me if you like this Rose narrative or the "Rose's Bloodlines" narrative better and I may change the way I've been writing "Rose's Bloodlines."Also if you are following my other fanfic "Rose's Bloodlines" then I apologize for the wait but it's on hiatus indefinitely because I'm a lazy shit.**

**Love Lu (this is a command by the way, not a farewell)**

**Disclaimer: I'm clearly no Richelle, so I don't own any of this shit. I've tried not to use direct quotes from the books**

An exceptionally unwelcome beeping noise awoke me from a restless sleep. Groaning, I rolled over and practically smashed my alarm in annoyance to shut the goddamned thing up. It was four in the afternoon for humans – super early for the vampiric schedule – and I had training with my insanely dangerous and inhumanly (fitting since he wasn't a human) attractive mentor, Dimitri. I changed quickly, not taking much notice of what I threw on  
>(though I was positive it was clothing of the athletic kind. No one wants to do combat training in jeans). My hair was hanging lose and wild. I was about to walk out the door when I suddenly heard Dimitri's words from yesterday play through my mind: "Wear it up." Shivers ran down my spine. They shouldn't but they did. I chastised the shivers, and told them not to shiver again because this was my mentor and I shouldn't be shivering because of my mentor. But then I remembered our training session the previous day. I recalled how close we had been to one another and how he had opened up to me. With a smile across my face, I quickly found a hair tie and twisted my long, dark locks into a high ponytail at the top of my head.<p>

I jogged towards the gym, knowing I was late yet again. It probably would've been smarter for me to just set my alarm ten minutes earlier, but what can I say? I like sleep, and Rose Hathaway isn't known for always making the smartest choices. Besides, I was utterly exhausted anyway. It was hard to get much sleep when you spend your nights sitting in your room in a ball of depression, trying to think of creative ways to murder someone without getting caught.

A few days ago, blood whore rumours involving me had surfaced. They had circulated the school in a matter of hours and now everyone knew, including Dimitri. It was that dickhead Jesse's fault, and his little – or rather, unusually plump for a Moroi – sidekick Ralf. I knew they were the ones who had begun these rumours, especially seeing as they were central to the stories. They were claiming that I'd not only had sex with them, but also participated in blood whore activities and gladly let the two of them drink my blood. Nothing could be further from the truth. It had taken all of my frail self-control to not beat them soundly into the ground so that anything below their torsos (such as their male pride aka. shamefully small penises) would be trapped within the earth and they'd simply be there like the Strigoi dummies that we used in training sometimes. They'd be pretty good dummies. I wouldn't mind testing out my roundhouse kicks on them.

Those two assholes weren't the only people on my hit list. Ranking number one was that bitch doll, little miss Mia Rinaldi. That girl had been the scheming one to orchestrate the whole thing; whispering into Jesse and Ray's ears and having them do the dirty work for her.

Lissa had been the one to realize this, being able to by reading Mia in that talented way she processed of understanding people and their motives. She'd also promised to compel people into seeing the truth. I wasn't so pleased with this. To be fair, it was making life slightly more bearable for me. Less people talked about the rumours openly while I was around now. Rather, they simply ignored me and I was happy being ignored if it meant I wouldn't have to deal with the bullshit high school drama.

I was about halfway to the gym when I spied a silhouette was walking towards me and I immediately recognized the man as my badass, Russia god of a mentor.

"Rose, you're late," his deep voice informed me. "Again."

He was being kind, with no irritation or anger in his tone. Dimitri understood how I felt; he knew that I wasn't having an easy time dealing with the rumours and the unjust way people were treating me. We'd never talked about the whole situation, but I could tell that Dimitri knew how hard it was for me to deal with this slander. Ever since that night where he saw me cry, it was like the relationship between us had changed. Dimitri was a lot gentler with me, using kinder words yet toughening my training tasks so I could release my anger in a safe way. He understood me so well, like he was psychic.

"Yeah, yeah, I was well aware of that comrade."

He rolled his deliciously dark eyes at the nickname, but otherwise ignored it (like always). "Come on," he said. "We've got training to do."

"Combat stuff, right?" I grinned. "Hitting and beating and attacking?"

He gave me that small half smile that I often had the ability to bring out. "But laps first."

We headed towards the outdoor running track. The sun was still pretty high in the sky, and it's golden rays warmed my arms, though it was nothing compared to the heat of Dimitri's fingers upon my wrist as he set the timer on my watch he'd given me for training. It was at that moment I became aware of our matching attire. Half asleep, I'd picked out simple black workout gear and looking at Dimitri, I saw that he also donned black trackies and a fitted black shirt, showing off his well-toned muscled bodice.

It appeared as though Dimitri intended to run with me which I had no problem with. We warmed up and then began the tedious journey around the track. It never really got any easier running. I mean sure, my body became more accustomed to the exercise and all, but the whole point annoyed me. Running in circles felt like it had no purpose to me, like I was a hamster running in a spinning wheel, never going anyway, never doing anything semi what impressive or useful, and I had to constantly remind myself that this was important for Lissa and that I had the endurance to run with her if it was ever necessary.

However, running with Dimitri changed things. I felt more at ease, yet at the same time, there was this competitive streak that made me push harder and strive for a better time than when I was running alone. I didn't want to look weak to Dimitri. Making him proud was so important to me. Proving myself was something I had been trying a lot lately. It also worked. He would smile at me more often now, and not those half smiles that he usually gave, but a huge majestic grin that would radiate happiness upon is face and perfecting what was already a beautiful creation of a man. God had done a wonderful thing in creating his angelic face. And when my Dimitri was happy like that, I'd feel that way too and all you troubles with the blood whore rumours, my hatred towards the three little shit bags and my worry for Lissa would simply vanish and I'd be left feeling ecstatically blissful.

But even with Dimitri, there are still some things I won't stand for, and when he informed me that he expected me to complete another three extra laps, I was not happy.

"You have got to be kidding me."

He didn't look surprised at my outburst. "I'm dead serious."

"Dimitri this is pointless!" I moaned. He raised an eyebrow at my statement.

"Okay so not entirely pointless, but you promised me more combat training. I need to learn to protect Lissa and myself. I'm sick of the running lately, I need to face things and stop shying away from them…" I was no longer talking about our training sessions and he knew it. "I want the strength and knowledge that nothing can hurt me or people I love and I'm sick of people pushing me around. I want to feel powerful for once, instead of having to push back my emotions and be calm and collected and the 'good novice' that we're all expected to be."

Our eyes connected and a million messages travelled between us. I could see annoyance in his dark, beautiful eyes. He was mad. He didn't like me arguing with him. Then the irritation shifted and I could see an idea spinning in his mind.

"Come on," he said as he abruptly turned and started walking away.

"Where are we going?"

"The gym. I'm going to get something."

When we reached the gym, Dimitri told me to wait in the entrance area while he went inside to obtain what he was looking for.

I was immensely curious. I hadn't expected this course of events. I honestly hadn't expected to have that outburst either. It was like some kind of anger and desperation had seized me and fogged up my mind. Whatever happened, it had clearly spurred something within Dimitri's mind.

From behind me I heard loud, obnoxious laughter. I turned and practically growled at Jesse and Ralf and their little posse of a few other rude royal Moroi assholes who were starring right at me and laughing uncontrollably, not even trying to conceal the reason as to why. It was blatantly obvious I was the source of the humour.

"Hey! Rose!" Ralf yelled over to me.

I narrowed my eyes as way of acknowledgment.

"Answer me when I talk to you, fucking blood whore cunt," he guffawed. His friends were grinning stupidly. Then their eyes widened with fear and travelled to something behind me, and I had a very good idea what that something was.

Dimitri came up beside me, his face hard and eyes blazing as he glared at the group of Moroi who promptly stopped their cackling and walked away fearful of his godly reputation. Jesse's face creased with dread, no doubt remembering Dimitri's threat from several weeks back.

"Are you okay?" Dimitri murmured to me, his eyes softly scanning my face.

"Fine."

He looked doubtful of this, but didn't press any further, understanding that I wouldn't tell anyway. He knew me too well.

"Come on Rose. I'll teach you some new combat techniques today."

My interest perked, as did my mood. "Oh yeah? Like what?"

"Wait and see," he said ominously.

"Then let's get started," I said in excitement.

I turned to go inside of the gym, but Dimitri grabbed my wrist and stopped me mid spin. I froze. His hand was hot against my bare skin, and heat was steadily engulfing my body. My heart fluttered inside my chest and a gasped quietly at the shock of the sudden pleasurable hotness.

Once again, I reminded myself that he was my mentor and that I shouldn't be feeling this way, but my god it felt good having his skin pressed against mine. I pushed the intelligent thoughts away and instead just basked in the feel of his hand upon me. Regretfully though, he removed it after a few seconds, his hand instead becoming a fist at his side.

Dimitri smiled at me, lighting up with face with pure angelic beauty. "I thought we'd go somewhere different today."

"Where?" I asked curiously.

"Away from here. Away from," Dimitri jerked his head towards where the Moroi dickheads had disappeared, "them."

Anticipation and happiness flooded me and my mind ridiculously started pondering the chances of a secret romantic getaway or huge surprise of one kind or another. The little voice in my head snickered at my idiotic thoughts, and I chastised myself once again for being so attracted to my teacher.

I was curious as he led me towards the forest, and he ducked into a clearing behind a few trees, not too far away from the school but enclosed so we wouldn't have any unexpected visitors.

It was beautiful. The grass was golden and jade in the warm sunshine. Vast greenery surrounded us completely and the afternoon sun sparkled on the emerald leaves and upon Dimitri's dark hair. The sunlight on his lightly tanned skin made it look deliciously like honey and sweetness and his dark, intense eyes reflected the bright light. I could see his hard muscled body through his tight-fitting shirt. My heart fluttered again and I resisted the urge to smack myself in the chest to warn it to stop.

Trying to return my breathing to normal I asked, "Okay so what are we doing? What are these secret combative moves you've been taunting me with?"

He smiled secretively. His hand slid into his pocket and he pulled out a silver stake.

"Oh my God, are you serious?" I said in wonder.

Dimitri's radiant smile grew and I wondered if he thought my reaction was amusing.

"Quite serious," Dimitri told me.

"Please tell me you've got a stake for me too!" I exclaimed.

"I have a stake for you."

"Well, are you going to give it to me?" I asked impatiently. "Am I going to stab some hearts?"

"No."

I groaned. "Of course not."

"You'll get the stake, but I'll only be teaching you basic movements, strikes and blocks; how to hold it. Besides, out here there's nothing to stake; no dummies or anything. You'd have to stake me."

I scoffed. "Right, like I could stake you."

"I bet you could. You'd need to practise with a stake and learn how to use it properly, but I think you could," Dimitri said encouragingly.

"You'd probably kill me in two seconds flat. Especially if you were a Strigoi I was trying to stake," I said.

"You don't give yourself enough credit," his deep voice was warm with pride.

"Well here's to hoping that I'll never have to stake you," I teased. "I don't know if I could bring myself to stake you anyway. I like you too much."

He raised a questioning eyebrow but I just shrugged in response, trying to downplay the suggestiveness of what I had said.

"Fine then, what are we waiting for?" I exclaimed enthusiastically, changing the subject and ending the scrutinizing look in his irises. "Teach me how to use it!"

He handed me a second stake and began explaining the motions and correct grip and stance when wielding a stake.

"Here, hold it like this," Dimitri instructed, wrapping his hand around the hilt of the stake. I followed in suit.

"No," he said as he placed his hand over mine. "Wrap your pinkie around like this, and move your hand a little further down the shaft." The warmth that simply his hand brought felt so damn right. I wanted him to slide that hand up my arm to the nape of my neck and pull me close to him. I wanted to feel the warmth of his chest. And I certainly wanted to obey his instructions, but not on the shaft he was talking about.

The little voice inside my brain was screaming profanities at me and I made the hardest decision of the day by ignoring my attraction to Dimitri, and focusing on my training. Damn him and his stupid sexual body and his stupid godly face and his stupid gorgeous scent. I hated him at times like this, for being so irresistible and being so unaware of the fact. I hated myself at time like this, for being so unable to resist and being so acutely aware of how fucking irresistible my mentor was. He was my mentor for God's sake.

So for the next hour I worked my ass off, focusing on my training with thoughts of protecting Lissa from the many undead bloodsuckers I'd have to fend off throughout my lifetime. I listened to Dimitri's advice, adjusting my technique to be more effective and deadly. Soon I was up to a standard that Dimitri was having to block my strikes with intense seriousness, so I wouldn't stab him and puncture something vital for survival, such as a heart or lung.

I could feel his hard, lean muscle pressed up against me. His warm body pushed up against mine and there was heat flooding through my body, hottest where his skin touched mine. Our limbs would brush as I stuck out with my stake, and as he'd deflect it.

We also practised with reversed roles; Dimitri attacking while I was on the defence. Using a stake began to feel natural to me. It was like an extension of my arm – multiplying the death and badass-ness I could wield.

At the end of our session, my breathing was slightly laboured from fighting off Dimitri's blows. He truly was a god – and I also suspected he hadn't even used his full force on me yet. I knew he had had to hold himself bad and go easy on me this first stake training, and while it was logical, it certainly irritated me. I wanted to be equal in power and ability; I didn't want Dimitri to see me as weak.

"That was good Roza, very good."

I glowed under his compliment. He didn't hand them out often.

"Really?"

"It's like you've been doing it for years."

A huge grin spread across my face.

"But there's one thing that I think I should probably bring you up on." The seriousness of what he said was conveyed in those eyes of his, causing my mood sombre slightly.

"Before, when you said you couldn't stake me. Was that true?"

"I guess so," I said. "Now I know how to do it I bet it'd be easy, right?"

He didn't answer my question, but just looked at me. "You think you'd be able to kill a Strigoi?"

"Sure, I can stake now. All I need is practise. Why wouldn't I kill them?"

"Most Strigoi were once Moroi who have purposely changed. Sometimes they're Moroi or dhampirs who've been turned against their will. There's a strong likelihood that you might know one of the Strigoi you come up across. Could you kill somebody that you used to know?"

"I mean, I'd have to right? If it's them or Lissa…" I trailed off.

"You might hesitate. And that hesitation would kill you. And her."

"So how do I make sure I don't hesitate?"

"You must keep telling yourself that they aren't who they were before. They've become a dark and twisted creature. Something unnatural. You must let go of any attachments you may hold and do what's right. If they have even a single grain of their former selves left hidden within them, they'll probably be grateful."

"Grateful that I'm killing them?"

His dark eyes studied me intently. "If someone turned you into a Strigoi, what would you want? What would you want if you knew you were going to be turned into an evil creature? If you were going to lose all your old morals and understanding of right and wrong? If you knew you'd spend your immortal live murdering innocents, what would you want?"

I stared at him, burdened by the dark questions. I knew what he was talking about. Being a guardian was a serious task, and the consequences were dire. Death was always a looming threat, as was being turned. Yet I knew in that moment – we both did – that our duty to Moroi outweighed the risks. Dimitri and I both had this strange sense of the way life and death could work together. We were alike, both of us understanding the gravity of our lives and how we would have to make tough decisions. This was one of them.

"I'd want someone to kill me."

"So would I," Dimitri said quietly. I felt instinctively that he too felt as I did, as though we had shared a moment of realisation. I could see the look in his eyes that he truly believed what he was saying. I knew I did. Death would be far better than senselessly murdering innocent people for countless decades.

We stood facing one another for God knows how long before he said quietly, "You'd better go get ready for class."

I snapped out of my trance and gave him a small grin to try and mask my dark thoughts. "See you later comrade." I turned and as I retreated, I heard "Goodbye Roza," carried to me through the wind.


End file.
